Sankarśanāya namah

Maharishi Śuka said,

“During the Rājasuya yagna, Śisupala, the king of Chedi, who was killed, merged into Vāsudeva. This wondrous incident left everyone including Yudhisthira gaping. After all, throughout life Śiśupala had abused Krishna in unpardonable ways. His blasphemous actions were totally condemnable. How could such wicked, vile person merge into the Lord upon death?

Addressing Maharishi Nārada who was present in that assembly, Yudhishthira, who was astonished, enquired, “Aha! How astonishing! Even after abusing Lord Vāsudeva in every possible way Śiśupala, the King of Chedi, has merged into Him. His abusive language was unbearable to our ears. Even minutes before death, he abused Krishna. How could such a wicked person merge into the Lord in the presence of the assembled eminent Maharishis, ascetics, kings, nobility as well as the Devatas who lived on earth and in heavens?

The Supreme Lord remains inaccessible even after intense austerities; He does not even appear in the dream of that person who has been devoted towards him for many births; He does not cause tears of joy to flow from my eyes even when I joyfully sing for Him; He does not even disclose His residence even after I have totally surrendered to Him; He does not manifest even once although I am filled with traits of purity (sattva), then how could this immoral Śiśupala merge into Him even as we were all watching? After all was he not Krishna’s enemy? Even those devotees who are filled with exclusive devotion (ekanta bhakti) towards the Lord fail to achieve such supreme blessing”.

Swamiji explains: Śiśupala had absolute aversion towards Krishna. If we are asked to despise the Lord, can we do so? No, we can’t. It is not our nature. Even if He does not fulfill our list of desires, even if we still continue to suffer, we will never look down upon Him. At most for a day we may abstain from loving Him, but beyond that we can’t stay away from our dearest God. If someone were to ask you, “What have you achieved due to this devotion of yours? Since your childhood you have been His devotee.” You will reply, “He has ensured that my devotion towards Him remains firm even after these many years.”

If the person argues “but you have only obtained one suffering after another in all these years,” you say “Yes. Its true. It’s the prasadam that He has given for my years of devotion. I will happily experience it”.

There are many who have such firm stubborn devotion towards their favorite God. At the same time there are devotees who slip from their levels of devotion. Hearing Yudhisthira’s question do not presume that liberation is the result for abusing God. Do not begin abusing Him. If we try that trick we will end up with limitless sufferings in the next 10 births. Yudhishthira continued, “O Maharishi! All of us are desirous of knowing the secret contained in this. Śiśupala was overflowing with traits of passion and ignorance (rajasic, tamasic). We have heard that in the past eon Vedic Brahmin scholars had ordered King Vena to fall into hell because he had condemned the Supreme Lord. In this case too Śiśupala, the son of Damaghoṣa, along with brother Dantavaktra, always loathed and abused Krishna.

Sri Mahavishnu, the indestructible Supreme Lord, has incarnated as Krishna. Why is it that Śisupala and Dantavaktra, who continuously blasphemed the Supreme Lord, merged into Him instead of falling into the worst hells? Given their wicked nature isn’t it surprising that they were not afflicted by even the slightest skin disease? How could they be blessed with this rarest of the rare fortune?”